abbreviations!

[Jeff W]

That is true. My post was a joke.

Language evolves naturally. You can't force it by changing a wonderfully expressive term like "gaybet" to "grrbet".

[krishanleong]

Sure you can, what you've never eaten "Freedon Fries"!! [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Krishan

Actually I thought the term was wonderfully expressive but after a week of use it's pretty mundane. And since I believe strongly in gay rights I'm open to changing it to grrbet.

[rory]

What if it was called a jewbet?

[Jeff W]

Freedom Fries haven't replaced French Fries and they never will.

Gaybet: An amount or object risked in a wager characterized by cheerfulness and lighthearted excitement.

Like I said, wonderfully expressive. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Jeff W]

Rory,

I will have to rethink my stance on gaybet. When I grew up, the term "gay" was a generic insult and I still hear it quite often in College, even though I go to one of the most liberal colleges in the U.S.

I will try to minimize my pejorative use of "gay". I honestly don't want to be hurtful or insulting to gays, as they have a tough enough lot already.

-Jeff

[rory]

At one point it was common parlance to refer to black people and asian people and jewish people and irish people and catholic people and all of that by various pejorative terms. Gay people are just the current en-vogue group. Nobody thinks anything of it because it is so common, but that is the whole problem.

[Grisgra]

[ QUOTE ]
What if it was called a jewbet?

[/ QUOTE ]

Am I the only one considering changing "value bet" to "jewbet" now?

[img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

If I didn't think that 90%+ of twoplustwo'ers, due to their typical age and intelligence level, weren't actually quite tolerant/accepting of homosexuality, I think I'd be more concerned.

But hey, if we can come up with an acceptable synonym, it's probably early enough that we can stop the meme in question. (Or whatever you want to call it.)

Personally, I think "gaybet" is perfect because

1) It's a move often done by poor players, meaning that the bet is kind of stupid (matching up with the common slang of "gay" = "stupid"

2) BUT it's also a move often made by strong players, and has quite a different meaning in those cases (matching up with the fact that upon further consideration/thought, being gay isn't "stupid" at all).

Weak players, gaybets usually mean stupid.
Strong players, gaybets can mean anything, definitely requires more thought and consideration.

It's an interesting parallel (to the unwashed masses, gay=bad, to the smarter/more open folks, "gay" is just an adjective) -- and MUCH better than we get with most slang. Good luck coming up with a term as fitting.

[krishanleong]

[ QUOTE ]
"gay" = "stupid"

[/ QUOTE ]

Common Gris, this is the problem. People use to use nigger because it meant stupid also. The problem is the root of gay as a pejorative term comes from persecuting a group of people for their sexual orientation. Nigger from their race. Both are bad.

Grrbet actually makes a little sense because these bets are hard to read and vex us a little.

Krishan

[sqvirrel]

If you have to invest five paragraphs explaining how a pejorative isn't a pejorative then you need to consider that the casual reader won't see it that way.

[Wynton]

Just because someone is willing to explain something, doesn't mean that the average person needs the explanation.

Are you seriously denying that the term gaybet could reasonably be construed as offensive?